On November 14, 2007 our healthy and athletic son was diagnosed with advanced stage IV Burkit’s Lymphoma and Leukemia. This blog is a journal of his courageous journey as he battled this aggressive cancer. With the grace of God and the help of an incredible community, Tyler went into remission in August, 2009. He is now a strong and healthy student at The Ohio State University.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Feeling Good

Tyler's health continues to improve. The antibiotics and morphine have been significantly reduced. He has been taken off his nutritional IV to see if he could hold down more food. His counts are still moving up and his temperature holding down.

Due to a hospital error, the PET scan did not happen today. They need 24 hours notice to prepare the drugs given during the scans, and someone forgot to order them. It was not realized until we were preparing to head down to radiology this morning. It is very frustration, but it will happen tomorrow morning. We are all very anxious to see the progress of the chemo on the cancers.

I have received some emails from people asking the difference between Lymphoma and Leukemia. In Tyler's case it is a moot point. He has both. His Burkitt's started as Lymphoma, but as it entered his bone marrow and weakened his immune system, the Leukemia form of Burkitt's came in and ran quickly through his bone marrow system (taking over about 85%). We have been told that it was caught days, and possible hours, before it entered into his brain and central nervous system. If the cancer had moved there, the treatment options become very limited. This is the reason Tyler's chemo treatments have been so intense, and why he continues to get the chemo treatments into his spinal system.

We are praying for very positive results from the PET scans and CT scans tomorrow. The process will take from 8:30 until around 3:30. We are still expecting to head home sometime Friday.